A Logo for the Movement to Free Climate Activists: #FreeHong #FreeHongFreeThemAll

Hong Hoang, a climate activist from Vietnam and an Obama Foundation scholar, is currently facing unjust detention in Vietnam. You can read more about her case here: https://www.protectclimateactivists.com/freehong/

A movement, #FreeHong, is currently under way, as is the broader movement #FreeHongFreeThemAll, in support of all the other climate activists in unjust detention.

In these times, standing up for climate action carries risk—you and me included. After lots of discussion with Liangyi Chang, my fellow Obama Leader and Asia Managing Director of 350.org who is a friend of Hong’s, I am honoured to design the logo for the movement. Below is an image of a Fire Sunflower (sunflowers being Hong’s favourite flower), showing ‘fire’ petals around an Earth centre.

Here is a black and white version:

After much back and forth with Liang, we resisted the tight, more symmetric design on the left and decided for the final design on the right. A looser, shabbier ‘sunflower’ is a better fit for a design for activists, who work to subvert the rigid, oppressive systems we have today. Note that the fire ‘petals’ don’t actually touch the planet—symbolic of how climate activists worldwide are fighting for climate action to prevent more destructive wildfires and other climate impacts.